While many road surfaces are constructed from hardened surfaces such as asphalt or concrete, tires are also frequently used in “off road” applications such as mud, gravel, sand, compacted soil, and other surfaces where the material of the surface can become loaded into the tread pattern. For example, mud can fill part or all of the grooves or other features of a tread pattern as the tire rotates during use. As the grooves or other features fill and the tire becomes loaded with mud, traction can be adversely affected as the effective tire surface becomes slick. In such case, the vehicle may become immobile or stuck. However, if the tire can self-clean or remove these materials during rotation, then the tread features have an opportunity to provide traction and thereby move the vehicle. In an ideal construction, during each rotation the non-contacting portions of the tread would eject materials before rotating back into contact with the ground or road surface.
In addition to providing ornamental features attractive to the buyer, tread patterns may be developed for the purpose of improving traction in off road applications such as those mentioned above. In order to explore the self-cleaning efficacy of a proposed tread pattern, one or more tires can be constructed bearing the proposed pattern. In turn, these tires can then be placed on a test vehicle and subjected to various off road conditions in order to evaluate traction performance. Unfortunately, such an approach is expensive because e.g., a tire mold must be created or modified for each pattern change, the new tire must be manufactured, and then vehicle testing must be performed in off road conditions.
While it may be desirable to ultimately test each design on a vehicle in off road conditions, there exists a need for a generally less complex and less expensive option for testing the ability of various tread patterns to remove off road materials from grooves and other features of the patterns before subjecting a particular tread pattern to off road testing. Specifically, there is a need for an ability to test various design patterns for self-cleaning efficacy without necessarily building a complete tire for off road testing of each pattern or pattern change that is under consideration or development. A solution that provides for more rapid testing at less expense than prototype manufacture followed by off road testing would be very useful. A solution that can allow testing using only a portion of the entire tread pattern would also be particularly useful. These and other advantages are provided in one or more embodiments and aspects of the invention that will be described herein.